The broad long term objectives of the Laboratory for Marine Animal Health (LMAH) are: monitoring the health of aquatic animals used in the research programs of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and adjacent scientific community at Woods Hole, MA.; investigation of disease outbreaks in these laboratory animal species; development of infections, parasitologic, nutritional and toxicologic diseases afflicting these populations; and determination of appropriate methods for control, eradication and prevention of such diseases. In collaboration with scientists at the MBL, an additional long range goal is development of pathogen-free, disease-free marine invertebrate stocks suitable for well controlled research protocols. Successful culture of such invertebrates is of great importance to the biomedical research community as invertebrates become more extensively used as laboratory animals. Application of the principles of veterinary preventive medicine to densely stocked populations of animals is essential to the success of full life-cycle, mass culturing programs. Special emphasis will be given to defining and preventing specific larval diseases which are often the limiting factor in invertebrate culture attempts. An important ancillary objective of the LMAH is the training of veterinary scientists in biomedical research. The wealth of aquatic animal disease material available at the laboratory offers unique opportunities for pre- nad post-doctoral training and research.